"What did I expect from this?" is what I'm asking to this day

To start this off, I don't have any personal grudge against the writers, the cast ( who I love ), or anyone involved in making the show. I wanted to make this review to purge my thoughts because I want to let go of the mess that this show was. This has spoilers so don't read it if you haven't seen the show ( if you haven't I respect that in all honesty ).

The plot sounds original, but the so-called love alarm is a device to embed the same clichés found in high school dramas with a submissive female lead bearing a tragic past, who now has two of her classmates fighting over her in a love triangle that is the primary focus of the show - that being, a love triangle that somehow spans over years. This wouldn't be the type of show I normally watch because 1) I respect myself and 2) I knew I'd be in for some intense ship wars. I watched this because of the cast. I am a huge supporter of Kim So Hyun and I discovered Song Kang through this drama so I give the writers that point. But what was this show? I binge-watched season 1 in a day ( back in 2019 ) and there were evident flaws, such as the way the relationships were written. Sudden and poorly developed romantic attraction, backstabbing friends, fights over the main female character for no reason, and mean girls galore. I was a fan of Sun Oh, to be honest, but then I watched other dramas after Love Alarm and I realized, "What the hell was I thinking?". The characters that I once thought were mediocre were now written abysmally as I watched actual good dramas that shifted my perspective and common sense. Sun Oh's actions were selfish to a degree, but also how did he Jojo fall in love to begin with? They kissed once out of him asking her to talk in an alley on the way home from school ( which to be fair, that has happened before in real life, and could very well turn into another Junko Furuta case - may the girl rest in peace ) so why was that romanticized? Aside from the very serious implications, they don't even know each other that well. Moving on, Hye Young was fine, but he didn't act upon his feelings for years. Again, that's fine, but if Jojo were to end up with Hye Young, why make her fall in love with Sun Oh? She broke up with Sun Oh for a dumb reason, and I know the show tried to be realistic with saying that passionate sparks of love don't last... but those were senseless sparks of love. The love triangle was the selling point of the show and it had been dug in deep. Okay, but I did cry my eyes out and feel for the characters. The flaws in the show I dismissed because I believed that Season 2 would resolve all of the loose ends. But did it? No. No it didn't.

Season 2 developed Hye Young and Jojo's relationship more, but did Jojo ever develop? She prioritized herself more, by hurting Sun Oh. Which again, I'm trying to dismiss, but no matter how selfish he was he shouldn't have had to deal with such a messy breakup. Hye Young I didn't hate or love, he was just there. He loves Jojo, but then I thought, what is there to love about her? I genuinely understand her past, but she had minimal character development and whatever "development" she did have it was borderline nonsensical. She hurt the characters through her decisions, which weren't that hard to make. Yook Jo is cute but she and Sun Oh didn't deserve so much heartbreak over one person - which to your surprise, was Jojo. I'm personally relieved that at least there was one decent thing that came out of the show, and it was that it ended. I used to be a huge fan of this drama, but I got so bored in season 2. I look back now and think "what was I on to call this mess good?". The love alarm app that fueled the whole drama was once more, a tacky add-on to a non-original plot with so many clichés that were poorly executed, to where half the show didn't make sense to me. Which, if I may add, the series tried to be progressive by saying that love doesn't depend on technology. Which brings me to say, "then don't make it such a significant plot point/mechanic..." or at least don't bring it into the show at all. This was a typical high school drama with a useless quirk that didn't have any point, and this series gives a bad name to youth dramas, because some of my favorite shows are school dramas. This love triangle was worse than School 2015, good grief. It hurts my brain to go back and think about this show. I'm disappointed that such good actors were put in a burning mess of a drama.

To be honest, I have no hate for the actors. They're the saving point of this, as I discovered my new favorite, Song Kang. Song Kang is the cutest, and I'm excited to watch Navillera with him because he has such range ( after I saw him in Sweet Home ). I could stomach Sun Oh's character ( not really, but I could tolerate it ) because SK gave such a stellar performance. For me, the way he emotionally touched me through his expressions is nice. I'm surprised to say that Song Kang's appearance didn't affect my opinion of him because I thought of that as secondary to his skill. Kim So Hyun is one of my favorite actresses in general, because of her versatility and the amount of comfort I have when just seeing her on screen ( because any drama of hers I watch usually becomes a favorite of mine ). Jung Ga Ram was okay, I didn't see anything particular about his performance that made him memorable but he didn't do so bad. To be fair, Jung Ga Ram and KSH didn't have that much chemistry to me, but that could be because of how much screen time Jojo and Sun Oh had in the first season. Kim Shi Eun ( who plays Yook Jo ) is really adorable though, to unconditionally love Sun Oh. But again, I was searching for something good to come out of the show because I didn't want to call this a waste of my time, so I tried to slap a gold star on the most normal-looking relationship. Also Go Min Si is commendable because I hated Gul Mi so much, so props to her for accurately portraying a terrible character, personality-wise.

I forgot to add in my opinion of the OST. The soundtrack is beautiful, and I listen to some of the songs to this day, mainly “Blooming Story” and “Falling Again”. The OSTs are perfect for what the drama should’ve been, and resonate deeply with me. I don’t know why such well-done songs were put in this drama, as they’re so hauntingly magnificent. I don’t know why I didn’t mention the OST here, but oh my god I have no words, if that makes sense. Love Alarm is basically the Domestic Girlfriend of Korean dramas, as much as I know I shouldn’t compare. This is the one undoubtedly good thing to come out of this drama as even after 2 years I still listen to these songs.

The main point is, do I recommend this to anyone? The friends I have/the people I'd recommend this to have brain cells so no. But if you're the one person who reads this and still wants to watch the show, go ahead ( I know I shouldn't have made a dumb pun/reference to a good drama that didn't deserve to be put into this review about a trashy show I saw ). I think if you're able to have no expectations and go in, regardless of the questionable characters and plot development, frustrating "twists" and the painful love triangle ( not that the outcome was painful, it was how it got to that point ), then go watch it; it may be your new favorite- yeah no I can't compare this to a good drama again because I don't need to drag an innocent show into my venting.

If you're too lazy to read this unintelligible, long review: don't watch it if you have brain cells, if so you'll be in for a ride of how to interpret trash that tries to fool you into thinking it's gold. If you respect yourself, then save yourself from this. I waited 1.5 years for nothing I guess. Oh well I'll bleach my eyes out with Seo Kang Joon or something, that should do the trick.

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